(Brooklyn, NY, July 11th, 2014)- In the face of growing anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment, Arab American groups and their allies will launch the Campaign to Take on Hate on Tuesday, July 15 at 7:15pm in Brooklyn. In the last three weeks, New York City has witnessed the stabbing of an Arab American street vendor and found anti-Muslim graffiti scrawled on a public mailbox. Also this week, new documents revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) was using the blatantly prejudiced fake name "Mohammad Raghead” as a placeholder in a document describing how to properly format surveillance justification. Groups will gather to launch this campaign, discuss ways to counter bias, and break their fast as a community during the holy month of Ramadan.

Who: Arab American leaders and allies

What: The Campaign to TAKE ON HATE aims to achieve meaningful social change, not only through public education, media and coalition building, but by providing a platform for Arab Americans and Muslims to speak up and inspire real policy change that challenges institutional racism and protects the rights of our communities.

The National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) is a consortium of independent Arab American community-based organizations. Established in 2004 as a project of ACCESS, NNAAC currently has 23 members in 11 different states including New York. NNAAC’s mission is to build the capacity of Arab American nonprofit organizations that focus on the needs and issues impacting their local community, while working to collectively address those issues nationally. To support its mission, NNAAC has three main programs: Capacity Building, Advocacy & Civic Engagement, and Youth & Community Service.